Avenue Q in Belfast - but does it travel well?

On the curtain up on the stage, the sun was hiding behind the hills of New Jersey, closer yet was the skyline of Manhattan but the Belfast Grand Opera House audience was in neither place. Yet closer, Brooklyn and Queens had their names in print but we were not even there. A big highlighted arrow gave away our location, a long island neighbourhood to the east of the city. A place where some monsters and people a little down on their luck lived. The theatre settled down, the TV screens descended, the curtain raised, we were gleefully immersed back into the world of Avenue Q.



You may have already read my experience of the comedy musical Avenue Q when Norngirl and I went to see it in it's native land and form last year. We were very impressed by it, had listened the the songs on repeat on our mp3 players at the gym ever since and were very eager to see the show again. This time we were sharing the fun with friends and family and we were all very happy that the show was visiting Belfast, giving us to chance to see it again so close to home.

This was the first UK tour of Avenue Q and I hadn't seen any of the performances from the likes of Youtube for the cast we were going to see. I'd heard there were a few changes between the New York and other versions of the show including the UK one and this was true, these were small changes but if you've spent a while listening to the original cast recording you might spot them. The changes were both good and bad, some bits made it funnier, other bits less so, it did seem the show was run at a faster pace but that could have just been our familiarity with the recording.

The biggest of these small changes was that some of the lyrics and words were changed or cut from the original. From an interview with Jeff Whitty back in 2006, he explained:

"For those who haven't memorized the cast album, there won't seem to be many changes at all. The experience of the show is almost exactly the same in London as in the United States. For me, knowing the show so well, it's peppered with changes, but usually it's a matter of two or three words changed, a few lyrics, a few changes in the orchestrations. And some cuts in the book and score that keep the show from eddying."

Norngirl and I admittedly qualify for 'memorized cast album' people. Most of the changes were indeed just subtle changes of words to make things more culturally specific and relevant to the audience in question - like 'Frat boy' changed to 'Drunk guy', 'Polak' changed to 'French', 'Long Island Iced Tea' changed to 'Absinthe Daiquiri'. For anyone who watches American TV shows (which would be hard not to do these days) these changes probably aren't really needed but it no doubt helps to ensure as many audiences as possible understand.

There were a few main differences between the New York - Off Broadway experience we had and my Belfast - Grand Opera House experience, and here they are:

> The song 'Schadenfreude' was better in it's original form (like we heard in New York) - the song really shouldn't have had so much cut out of it for a UK audience. Some of the best lines disappeared such as "Straight A students getting Bs, Exs getting STDs", in the words of a bad idea bear... 'that makes me sad!'

> The song 'Fantasise Come True' had better stage effects in Belfast - you wouldn't think it was a touring show at all. They really took you into Rod's dream and got the atmosphere just right, I dunno anything about stage production but I just know it was great visually.

> The character of Gary Coleman was played by a man in Belfast and a woman in New York. This is a tricky one. On one hand I think the songs seem to suit a female voice better, on the other hand the male Gary had more dance moves and was more a focal point in the scenes, but then on ermm, damn, I've run out of hands, OK, on the other metaphorical hand, the female Gary was able to get much bigger laughs from the playing on the juxtaposition of gender stereotypes. I think I'd personally opt for a female Gary but it is quite a trivial difference that doesn't effect the plot or the enjoyment of the show.

> I'll not spoil what they changed George Bush to in the the song "Only for Now" but it was just as funny.

The other little thing in comparing the two performances was that I did get the feeling of a little more authenticity about the show in New York but that's probably because we were watching actors pretending to be in New York when those very same actors lived and worked in the very same place, we were also in that place and the words were suited to that specific audience. There were some great individual performances by the cast we saw in Belfast but there were 3 or 4 moments where some of the cast's vocals at the ends of words didn't quite hit the accent they were speaking in - not that I could even do the accents they were pulling off for 2 hours for a second without sounding Indian, Jamaican or Welsh. Again this didn't effect the enjoyment of the show at all but it was why the New York show did suit the setting of the plot a smidgen more.

Other than that it was hard to pick out any other difference, it all just flowed along seamlessly and the plot is the same in both.

There was one other thing that was unexpected but pleasantly so; on the face of it the audience reaction was the same in that everyone was laughing and having a good time. The unexpected thing was that laughs didn't always materialise in the same place as they did the first time we saw the show. For the most part I was laughing at same time as the Belfast audience when in Belfast and the New York audience when we were there but a little bit of the New York memory was still in my head and there was one point where both Norngirl and I laughed but no one else did. The folks around us must have thought we had a supply of Nitrous Oxide under our seats or something. I think a big reason for this was just the subtle nuances on stage such as facial expressions and emphasis placed on the words in a different places by the cast. And it worked. Each cast played to their audience very well. I quite like the fact it wasn't identical for although we obviously knew the songs and plot, it was just the little bit of unpredictability needed to make it fresh and exciting.

The casts were fantastic in both and the puppets, well they were fantastic too. In the Belfast show my favourite cast member was Chris Thatcher who was operating Trekkie Monster and Nicky, he really brought those puppets to life. The best vocals undoubtedly came from Rachel Jerram who sang brilliantly as Kate Monster.

Overall, even with the differences in performers, audience, venue and the minor changes, the result was exactly the same. It was brilliant.

Avenue Q is a very funny, witty and engrossing musical that doesn't take itself seriously yet gets across messages of tolerance, perspective, hope & happiness that audiences (if they don't already hold) will keep with them forever and you know what, I don't think it matters where you see it, it's still a phenomenal show. Sadly the show finished at the Grand Opera House in Belfast on the 25th June but who knows... maybe it will return one day :)

Our last night in New York was spent on Avenue Q.

It was the last evening of our last day in the awesome city of New York and it was the time that we first immersed ourselves into the wonderfully open and wacky world of Avenue Q.

In one of the New World Stages, well ermm, stages, we sat down on the front row not really knowing what to expect. We'd purposely avoided listening to the music from the show before hand for we had seen the adverts in London for the show when we were on our honeymoon a year before and it was our backup show on that occasion and we didn't want to spoil it.
This time it had been our first choice of show as we kinda knew we'd love it from the rave reviews from my sister-in-law and the briefest of explanations we'd allowed ourselves to hear.
Back in the theatre and it turned out that taking alcoholic drinks into the auditorium was positively encouraged. We didn't need much convincing and very soon we each found ourselves with a monster themed cocktail in hand.

Don't worry I won't spoil the show itself for anyone... especially since the UK version of the show is touring Belfast later this month (my tickets for the Grand Opera House sit alluringly on our mantel piece making me feel all happy when I glance at them).
However, there we were being introduced to some of the most memorable characters and songs of musical theatre.

As we were in the US, we were lucky enough to see the show (as it should be - like the original!) with a female Gary Coleman character. It wasn't the original cast but in retrospect it was hard to tell the difference between the CD version of the songs and the show we saw that night. The show was great, I won't say more though because I honestly can't think of a way to talk about it without dropping spoilers. What made the experience even better though was that instead of going to stand in a long queue, there were staff who came around to take orders from the bar and delivered it to your seat, well worth all that tipping!
After the performance had finished , our 1st Avenue Q experience still wasn't over.
As you may have read on Norngirl's blog, the cast of the show were fundraising for charity by selling signed playbills and posters and pictures with the cast.

How could you turn down an offer like that!? The only problem being, I didn't have enough cash left on my person and after asking one of the cast found out there was a cash point on the upper level of the building. It was a mad dash to find it, get some cash and make our way back.
Unfortunately, by the time we did all that, everyone had left. Luckily, there was still a guy closing up the merchandise stall. We asked if they still had any of the signed posters but they didn't have them out front any more. To our surprise, instead of hearing "sorry, go home now crazy theatre going tourists", we were advised to go through big doors and ask in the office about the posters. Perhaps a little timidly, we did indeed venture through the double doors and, after passing through a sort of holding room, something awesomely unexpected happened; we were backstage. In front of us in a small room were all the puppets hanging up and by them, the cast and staff were all cooling down and having a post show chat. As Norngirl said, we had a feeling like we really shouldn't be there but it was brilliant to see how it was all laid out behind the scenes. After looking a bit lost, we were found by a nice man who couldn't help us enough and managed to dig out a signed poster for us to buy and he even gave us a couple of badges with slogans on from the show.

I didn't take off my badge until we got back to the hotel so the whole of New York knew that 'It Sucks to be Me'... but it didn't suck to be me, I was having a great day!

The night didn't end there though... once we'd dropped off our bags and poster, we headed out for sustenance. First of all we brought back a bottle of wine to the hotel room from the local liquor store then headed out again for food. For a city that 'doesn't sleep', there are actually some limits and one of those is that not all restaurants have very late opening times.

We didn't find any of Norngirl's list of recommended restaurants open, or at least open for much longer.On our quest to locate the restaurants we didn't go to, we happened to witness (and almost took part in) a side-walk cycling accident. A dude on a bike flew down the pavement but had to dodge two delivery guys, a little unbalanced, he then had Norngirl and me to avoid; though we'd stood as far out of the way as we could having seen the near miss in front of us.
It wasn't long until the cyclist was on the floor anyway, behind us, a guy hadn't been so lucky as to have spotted the danger. Man Vs bike, we're not too sure who won, they both gingerly made it back onto their feet, so although it must have hurt, there didn't seem to be too many hard feelings or lasting injuries between the two. Maybe that sort of thing happens all the time but it was certainly noteworthy for us.

Feeling a hint of Schadenfreude related happiness (Avenue Q does that to you), we decided not to push our luck any further and so headed back to our 24 hour diner from earlier in the week.
We ordered what turned out to be the biggest meal I've seen outside an all you can eat buffet and it was delicious.

I had noodle soup for a starter followed by a gorgeous open pastrami sandwich with roast potatoes and cauliflower all doused in gravy - I was stuffed after only half of it.
The bread and gravy all soaked up together and this combined with as much free water, tea and coffee as you could get squeeze into yourself, it was probably the best meal I had during the whole trip.

We didn't have the wine in the end, that was put in the luggage to take home, instead we went to sleep very happy but very very sad that our last day was over and our New York trip all but at its end.